New Mars Rover Launches!

The new Mars rover Curiosity has successfully launched and is now well on its way to the Red Planet. The 9 month journey will (hopefully) conclude in a successful landing and an awesome 2 year (plus) mission to explore the Gale Crater for evidence of microbial life.

Here’s the launch.

For the official press announcement, watch this:

And here’s a nice informational documentary on Curiosity itself. Pump it up to 720 HD and full screen!

Read more about the launch of Curiosity on Phil Plait’s blog.